Computational Physics PHYS 395 (3)
Computer based approaches to the solution of complex physical problems. A partial list of topics includes: Monte-Carlo and molecular dynamics techniques applied to thermal properties of materials; dynamical behavior of conservative and dissipative systems, including chaotic motion; methods for ground state determination and optimization, including Newton-Raphson, simulated annealing, neural nets, and genetic algorithms; the analysis of numerical data; and the use of relevant numerical libraries. Prerequisite: MATH 310, PHYS 211, CMPT 101 or 102, with a minimum grade of C-. Recommended: PHYS 344 or equivalent. Quantitative.